Baseball was better 45 years ago

In Make Predictions. Win cash. , we enticed people to make their 2017 baseball predictions with the succulent reward of a sweet Benny F $100 bill. In addition, to get your hardball Nostradamus juices flowing, we purchased the 1972 Street and Smith’s from Yankee Peddler in the Village Gate for $18.

We chose the 1972 edition for several reasons. Tragically, Roberto Clemente died helping Nicaraguan earthquake victims after the 1972 season. I never had the chance to actually watch Clemente play, although his 1973 Topps card is among the treasured in my collection.

Reading about 1972 — the year before my baseball birth — is a little like reflecting upon events before you were conceived: only existing in the mythical imagination of cards and magazine covers or 45 years later on old tv and radio clips posted on Youtube.

A baseball fan — purist or contemp — walks into different diamond when reopening the crinkling pages of the 1972 S & S.

Times of Game

For several years now, MLB has tried to shorten the length of games — to little avail. Today, baseball games are too long. People think baseball is slow and slow paced. But remember, games used to be played often in less than two hours — even in the World Series.

S & S always had a feature on the previous years World Series. And the times of the games was stunning: G1-2:06; G2-2:55; G3-2:20; G4-2:48 (this, the first night game in baseball history, was viewed by 61 million); G5-2:16; G6-2:59; G7-2:10

Now compare that with the 7 games of the 2016 World Series: 3:37, 4:04, 3:33, 3:16, 3: 27, 3:29, 4:28.

That’s about 17.5 hours for seven games in 1971 and 26 for hours for seven games in 2016. Whether greedy tv executives or the glacial pace of play today are to blame, baseball was better in 1972.

The Reserve Clause-Player Movement-Player Salaries

In 1972, baseball still had the reserve clause that prevented players from freely negotiating with any team other than the one that originally signed them.

In 1972, the S & S reported that a dozen players had broken the $100,000 mark (about 600,000 in today’s dollars). Keep in mind that today the minimum salary is 440,000; while the top superstars command 20 million a year.

The conservative, pro-establishment Street & Smith’s took a dim view player resistance to the reserve clause. After Curt Flood tried to have the Supreme Court overturn the clause, the editors disputed Curt Flood’s claim that the clause was “a form of serfdom” — especially since Flood was making 90,000 a year. (Today a player of his caliber would be about 100 times that amount.)

The reserve clause was unfair; it was fiefdom. But for the fan, the clause enhanced the game because it kept stars on the same teams for much if not all all of their careers. The 70’s and early 80’s was the era of great dynasties. [My own baseball card collection comprises all the playoff teams from 1969 – 1983, including the ’84 Royals and ’85 Royals and Dodgers. The Orioles made 7 postseason appearances; the Yankees 5; the Royals 7; the A’s 6; the Phillies 6; the Pirates 6; the Reds 6; the Dodgers 6]

In 2010, Sky Andrecheck made a spirited defense of the Reserve Clause.Andrecheck argues we could have all the virtue the reserve and still pay players what they are worth.

Skimming through the 1972 S & S, I did not find a single reference to the designated hitter. The DH would be introduced to the American League in 1973. In Royals 4 – Mets 3. An opening day World Series rematch with Eugene Kramer , I make a qualified argument that having the DH in just one league might be acceptable. But if the DH ever becomes universal, 1972 will be the last year of the golden age.

In 1972, offenses were not as turbo charged as today. Hence, in S & S you could find articles about the art of bunting and getting hit by the pitch.

1972 S & S

THE PLAYOFF SYSTEM

In 1972, the splitting of the Leagues into divisions with playoffs was only three years old. The staid S & S objected, preferring the unfettered drama of the stand alone World Series.

I am not such a purist that I object to divisions which became necessary with expansion (itself a necessary sin against absolute purity). That said, the postseason should be strictly limited. The four teams in 1972 was ideal as opposed the abomination of today’s three tiered playoffs.

1973 Topps Playoffs and World Series [from David Kramer’s collection]

Furthermore, baseball was superior from 1969 – 1984 when the League Championship Series were a best of five. Perhaps the most exciting baseball of all time took place during those taut, short series that hinged on a handful of mistakes. 1972 produced the two of the greatest series in history when the A’s beat the Tigers in five and the Red beat the Pirates in five with both game fives decided by a run.

HOW THE 1972 STREET & SMITH DO?

Middling. They predicted correctly on two of the four division winners.

S & S correctly predicted that the Pirates would win the NL East for the third straight year. With the loss of Clemente, the Pirates slipped in ’73 but won titles in ’74 and ’75 and then the Series in ‘7

S & S was wrong on the AL East, thinking the Orioles would win their fourth straight crown. But the Tigers, led by aging stars Lolich, Kaline, Freehan and Cash, proved they had one more run in them after winning the ’68 series. In an oddity, the Tigers won the Division with the smallest margin possible. On half game. In April the players had gone on strike resulting in teams playing between 6 and 9 less games than scheduled, allowing the Tigers to win by that one half game over the Red Sox.

Even though the Reds had made it to the 1970 Series, S & S placed them third in the NL West, But the Reds won as they were beginning to accumulate the Big Red Machine that won the division in ’73 and two straight series in ’75 and ’76.

S & S correctly predicted the A’s would win the AL West, the second of five consecutive titles with three World Series Championships (’72-’74)

Talker of the Town is a continuation of conversations begun in three Democratic Chronicle blogs: Make City Schools Better, Unite Rochester and the Editorial Board.
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